Jacob
Meaning
traditionally "holder of the heel" or "supplanter," from the Hebrew Ya'aqov, the patriarch who wrestled the angel and fathered the twelve tribes; a Jewish and Puritan staple that ruled the US boys' charts for over a decade around the 2000s. Jake comes free
Famously borne by Jacob Lawrence, whose Migration Series told the Great Migration in sixty panels.
The story
Jacob goes back to the Hebrew Ya'aqov, traditionally read as holder of the heel or supplanter: the patriarch born grasping his twin's heel, who wrestled the angel until daybreak and fathered the twelve tribes of Israel. Jewish families kept it alive for millennia, the Puritans carried it to America, and for most of the twentieth century it sat quietly in the middle of US records, an inheritance rather than a fashion. Then, from the 1970s, it began one of the great slow climbs in American naming, ending with Jacob ruling the boys' charts for over a decade around the 2000s. It has eased since, as every number one eventually does, and that leaves it in a comfortable place: familiar to everyone, dated to no one, with the friendly Jake thrown in for free.
Jacob around the world
One shared root links 18 names across 5 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Ya'aqov, traditionally "holder of the heel, supplanter"; Late Latin split it into Jacobus and Iacomus, giving Europe both Jacob and James
The constellation
12 more branches of this family
On record since at least the 17th century: Jacob van Ruisdael, Dutch landscape painter.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Jacob peaked in the 2000s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
4,195 people · the #3,098 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 47,619 · median age 50
Among people named Jacob living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 385 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Jacob
Most people given the name Jacob in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Jacob deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Jacob truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Jacob fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Jacob travels
Jewish American · a beloved patriarch name that became one of the most popular names in America
Korean American · supplanter (patriarch, father of the twelve tribes of Israel); a US #1 name for over a decade, popular among Korean American church families too
Hebrew · supplanter, held by the heel
Keep exploring
Names like Jacob · Nicknames for Jacob · Jewish American baby names · Korean American baby names · Hebrew baby names
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